Isolation and Microsequencing of a Novel Cotinine Receptor

SUMMARY 1. Nicotine and its main derivative, cotinine, are reported to have distinct central activities in mammals. In this study, the cotinine receptor was separated by biochemical procedures including radio receptor, affinity-chromatography, SDS–PAGE, and N-terminal sequencing assays. 2. Consistently, the results showed that distinctive cotinine receptors exist in different tissues of mammals. In rat brain, the affinity chromatography and [125I]cotinine receptor essays were used to isolate a 40-kDa protein (p40) with higher affinity for cotinine than alpha-bungarotoxin and nicotine. The N-terminus amino acid sequences of the p40 and its internal tryptic peptides showed no identity to recently described protein sequences, with the exception of homology to the human p205 synovial fluid protein. 3. These results, in agreement with other behavioral studies, are the first molecular evidence for distinctive nicotine and cotinine receptors in mammals.